The STV Council, the governing body of public service Slovak Television (STV) failed to approve a modified draft budget and program plan for the broadcaster on July 14, the SITA newswire wrote. STV management is now to submit a new third draft budget and program plan by August 14.
STV Council head Martin Kákoš said that the material submitted by STV’s management has accepted the council's requirement of a balanced budget by the end of this year. However, the draft counted on state compensation of €3.907 million, which is uncertain at the moment.
"The budget counts on money that STV does not have at its disposal at this moment," he said for the SITA newswire. In June, the government pumped €6.5 million into STV. Kákoš faulted the draft with increasing expenditures for both external and internal production. He finds this controversial, since as of July STV has to save on costs for external contracts, cut production by fifty percent and curb other expenditures as well. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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